CSNbbs

we're ****** if this happens....wish we had a bad ass basketball program

With the exception of the Big 10 I really question whether these mega-conferences will come into being. The Big 10 is cherry picking institutions that would bring value to the conference so that makes some sense. The other conferences? Not so much. Unless they can grab Texas the pickins get slim pretty fast. I've seen scenarios where schools like San Diego State and New Mexico join the PAC 10. Do they really make the PAC 10 a better conference than it is today? Hard to believe.

But for arguments' sake let's say five mega-conferences of 16 teams are formed. How will this impact the MAC? Very little in my opinion, with the possible exception of Temple being scooped up by one of the new leagues. The MAC would have the opportunity to add members like Marshall, Middle Tennessee and Western Kentucky, expanding their reach while maintaining geographic sanity. The MAC could keep on keepin' on, maintaining traditional rivalries, playing the big boys on occasion, and playing in bowls. They would be locked out of the BCS you say? It's unlikely for a MAC team to achieve that anyway until they're able to significantly increase their athletic budgets.

And regarding the BCS who's to say what the future will bring? Let's say the MAC eventually builds itself up like the Mountain West where they regularly roll out undefeated, highly ranked teams and pound BCS teams in nonconference play and bowl games. You think the rules wouldn't be changed somehow? Two more wildcards to consider are Charlotte and UT San Antonio, new programs with big dreams. Let's say they build 60,000 seat stadiums and get competitive in a hurry. They won't make noise about the BCS?

Overall I don't see these mega-conferences as a problem for the MAC and some may even regret having formed when they get used to diluted rivalries, loss of tradition, geographic sprawl, etc..

The problem with mega conferences is that there becomes a bigger gap between haves and have nots. The MAC will downgrade and so will a lot of other schools. Eventually you will have only 50 programs that will battle each other. It will become more elitist than before.

This super-conference stuff has been floating around for ages.

My take is along the lines of what 1981 posted. The thing driving the Big Ten is their network. At this point, they're the only ones with that kind of operation. BTN money seems to be the reason they're looking beyond 12.

I can see conferences that get poached from patching their holes, but that's it.

That said, I would probably have been shocked by the Southwest Conference implosion back in the day.

This is obviously a $$$ move. Does anyone believe the product will be better? Big ten just wants more $$$. Does this move make Michigan or Iowa a better university? Please..... The Big 10 proposed a year or two ago a $10 tax on every household in their territory for their network. Arrogance.

(05-11-2010 09:31 PM)NIU05 Wrote: [ -> ]This is obviously a $$$ move. Does anyone believe the product will be better? Big ten just wants more $$$. Does this move make Michigan or Iowa a better university? Please..... The Big 10 proposed a year or two ago a $10 tax on every household in their territory for their network. Arrogance.

It's not arrogance, it's business. The Big Ten, and other conferences, are businesses that all should be working to better themselves and their "brand". The Big Ten is doing that. If it can bring in millions of additional dollars to itself and member institutions, it should be exploring those options. To not do that would be short-sighted and negligent, and if a conference's commissioner isn't actively working to better their conference and it's interests, then they should be fired.

I'm not saying I like it, but it is what it is, and it's going to happen. From the Big Ten perspective, there's almost no reason not to do it.

Also, the Big Ten can't "tax" anybody (in a legal sense/definition at least), unless you're talking about what they wanted to charge the cable companies to carry the network, which was eventually negotiated with Comcast and other providers. It's also a deal that every other cable channel tries to negotiate, you just don't hear about it when Food Network, or Lifetime, etc. are going through the same negotiations.

This may become a reality and it will be driven by money. What I find amusing is the geographic continuity of these mega conferences in the article. In reality the new mega conferences will have less geographic continuity and will be driven more by media markets and TV deals than football prowess. It will be about getting your product out to the maximum number of households to increase advertising revenue. This may bode well for NIU which has the good fortune of being in the third largest media market in the US.

$$$ and sports should just get a divorce

(05-11-2010 11:50 PM)Kevin S Wrote: [ -> ]This may become a reality and it will be driven by money. What I find amusing is the geographic continuity of these mega conferences in the article. In reality the new mega conferences will have less geographic continuity and will be driven more by media markets and TV deals than football prowess. It will be about getting your product out to the maximum number of households to increase advertising revenue. This may bode well for NIU which has the good fortune of being in the third largest media market in the US.

For those who harbor dreams of NIU being something more than it currently is, the TV market is absolutely the only thing going for us.

However, that seems to be becoming more and more important.

Unfortunately, even if we were to be asked, the university is in zero position to accept and make that commitment. Now, they might move anyway, figuring future riches would balance out the short term growing pains.

The money disparity is so far against NIU currently, that we would almost certainly occupy the place in a major conference that Buffalo occupies in the MAC... years of "What a joke" followed by the chance to maybe be something a little more.

Put NIU as a football only in the Big 12 North and IMO you'd be surprised how well the Huskies would do. We will see in the next couple years as NIU plays Iowa State and Kansas; but the Big 12 North is nothing special besides Nebraska which has resurged after some down years. Getting into a BCS football conference would help NIU similarly to how joining the BE has helped Cincy. Since they've joined the BE, they are getting much better talent out of Ohio (one notch below OSU), the Ohio based MAC programs are not getting as many good players as they used to.

NIU losses players to other MAC programs and some MWC schools, being admitted to a BCS conference would end that and being 100 miles closer to where the majority of the talent is would put NIU in a great position to take talent away from U of I.

We'd do fine in any of the sports after 5 or so years. Our recruiting base would completely change if we were in the Big 12. We'd have more TV revenue and bigger crowds from bringing in legitimate teams. It wouldn't take long.

I don't think there's anyway we get in the Big 12, but being competitive on the field would be a non-issue if we ever did. I don't think we'd win titles very often, but we'd be at least good as their mid-tier programs within 5 - 10 years, no problem.